Improvement in gas-engines



'S. PERRY. qAs ENGINE.

Patented 00L 7, 1846.

.UNITED "STATE PATENT OFFICE.

STUART PERRY, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

1 IMPROVEMENT IN GAS-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4,800, dated October'7, 1846.

To aZZ whom it may concern- Be it known that I, STUART PERRY, of thecity, county, and State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in the Engines Operated. by the Explosion of Gases; and Ido-hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the principle or character which distinguishes them fromall other things before known, and of the manner of making,constructing, and using the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in whiclp-Figure 1 is a plan of the engine; Fig. 2, a longitudinal elevation; Fig.3, a longitudinal vertical section taken at the line X X of Fig. 1; Fig.4, an end elevation, and Fig. 5 a cross vertical section.

Th'e same letters indicate like parts in all the figures. v

' On the 5th day of May, 1844, LettersPatentwere granted to me by theUnited States for an engine to be. operated by the explosive mixtures ofinflammable gases or vapors? In this engine the piston is impelled bymeans of inflammable gas or gases generated from liqdids or solids, and,together with-atmospheric air exploded within the cylinder, the

expansive force of the gases thus exploded .being the impelling agent.It has been found, however, that the heat thus generated andcommunicated to the cylinder and to theother parts of the engine is aserious practical difficulty, and the leading object of my presentimprovements is to remedy this and other serious defects.

My first improvement consists in surrounding the cylinder of the enginewith Water to carry off the heat generated by the explosion of the gasesand keep it at a sufficiently low temperature for the efficient actionof the engine, and at the same time, in certain cases, to employ thissurrounding water as a waterbath for the retort which generates theinflammable gas when the gas is generated from a liquid or liquids, theheat generated .by the combustion of the gases being sufiicient to keepthe water at the temperature required for generating the gas, while thewater carries off the heat from thecylinder to prevent it from beingoverheated.

My second improvement consists in l bricating the piston and the insideof the cylinder with water, which not only prevents the wear of theparts, but at the same time aids in preventing these parts from beingover.- heated.

My third improvement consists in'lubri-v eating the piston-rod andpreventing it from being overheated by surrounding it with water at ornear the stufiing-box. I

My fourth improvement consists of a new method of inflaming the gases byplatina heated by the heat of inflamed jets of gas and air from theretort acting thereon, the

platina being so situated as to communicate, by a valve or valvesdirectly with either end of the cylinder or with the passages throughwhich the mixed gas and atmospheric air pass to either end of thecylinder; and my fiftlr is adapted a piston c' in the usual manner ofsteam-engines, and connected by means of a piston-rod d andconnecting-rod ewith the crank-shaft f. The cylinder is surrounded by ametallic vessel g, sutficiently large to contain water and permit it tocirculate around the cylinder, and above the cylinder and within thisvessel 9 there is a metallic retort h to contain any liquid from whichinflammable gas may be generated, which is to be supplied to itregularly from a reservoir by means of two balancing-tubes i i, the one7 for conducting the liquid, and the OlliGf't' to conduct gasfrom theretort to -the upper part of the reservoir to force the liquid from thereservoir into the retort until the liquid ,"rises above its aperture inthe retort, which cuts oif the supply of gas, and hence the supply ofliquid, until the liquid again sinks below the said'gas-tube. As thismode of supplying liquids is well known and has been frequently employedto supply steam boilers, it is deemed unnecessary torepresent it in thedrawings and model. The water in the vessel 9 keeps down the temperatureof the cylinder, and for "the purpose of-lubri- 2 i moo eating thepiston and the inside of the cylinder, and at the same time to lxeepdown the temperatureof these surfaces, a small doubleactingfOl'OC-Pllllll') j, operated by the camshaft, to be hereinafterdescribed, is employed, which communicates with the two ends'of thecylinder 0 by pipes 7.: 7;, which pass through the cylinder, so as tocorrespond with a groove Z in the periphery of the piston (see Fig. 1):)at each end of its stroke, where, by the dead points of the crank, thepiston is at rest for an instant of time, the strokes of the pump beingso regulated as to discharge a small stream of water alternately ateither end of the cylinder when the piston reaches the end of itsstrokes. The piston is packed on either side of this groove to preventthe escape of the Water from the groove except through an aperture inthe face of the piston, which conneets with the groove and which isfurnished with, a spring-valve Z By this supply of Water the piston andinside surface of the cylinder are effectually lubricated. The pistonrodis also lubiecated and kept cool bya supply of water from the vessel bythe pressure of the head by a tube m, (see Fig (i, 1011- gitudinalsection of Fig. 1 at Z Z on an enlarged scale) which communicates withthe stuffing-box. n, that is constructed in the followinggnanner: 0 is aring of packing, and 1:

' a metallic ring grooved inside and outside,

and q is another ring of packing, against which fits the gasket '2'. Thewater-tube m communicates with the outside groove in the metal ring, andby a hole therein with-the inside groove to lubricate the piston-rod. Inthis way all the parts of the cylinder, the piston, and piston-rod arekept down to the required temperature.

I will now describe the engine as being worked by the explosion ofatmospheric air and gas generated from spirits of turpentine. l-"or thepurpose of starting the engine a metallic receiver A contains condensedatmospheric air forced in by a hand-pump, or by any other auxiliarymeans, and this communicates with another receiver 13 by means of a pipem governed by a stop-cock s, and this latter communicates by a pipe twith the retort through a valve-box '11, provided with two apertures 12w leading to the retort and governed by a sliding valve 3;, operated bya screw and crank-handle z, and this valve is a hollow cylinder, whichmaybe closed and opened by a valve a, the stem of which is provided witha crank-handle 0. provided with a throttle-valve d, which regulates thecharge of mixed gas and atmospheric air to be admitted to the cylinder,and this may be worked by hand or b y a regulator, as in thesteam-engine. From the valve-box there are two pipes or passages ef,communicating with the opposite ends of the cylin der and governed byimluction-valvcs 9 7e", and beyond these are also two exhaust-valves 11j, and these four valves are operated in one direction by appropriatecams I." Z n2 it! on The valve-box is also.

a rod 0 receiving motion from the crankshaft by a train of wheels 1) q rs i, the three wheels r .s" if being bevel-wheels, and the two '1" fturning freely on their shaft, that either may be clutched by thesliding clutch 1/. to admit of reversing the rotation of the cam-shaftwhen it is desired to reverse the action of the engine. The cams operatelifters u connected with the valve-rods h t" j g by levers LC. There aretwo small pipes y y that extend from the valve-box to avessel .2, e oneither side and placed in the pipes or passages c f to supply small jetsof the inflammable mixture, which is inflamed and kept burning withinthe vessels z to heat platina cups a a that project within these"vessels, and the upper part of these platina cups (which open into thepassages through which the inflammable mixture passcs'to the cylinder)are governed by valves I) b, the stems c" c" of which are operated bycams d" d" on the faces of the cams that operate the induction-valves.The inside of these vessels is lined with earthen lutin g made OE'SQIIIGbad conductor to prevent the vessel from being too much heated. Thepiston-rod of the engine is provided with an arm e, which takes hold ofand operates the piston rod f" of an air-pump g", by means of whichatmospheric air is forced into the air-receiver B, the capacity of thisair-pump being such as to force into the receiver. a quantity of air ateach stroke equal to the supply required for the working of the engine.Then the engine is first started, the water which surrounds the cylinderand the retort must be heated to the temperature required for generatinginflaminable gas or vapor from spirits of turpentine or other suitablesubstance, and this may be done by any of the known means of apply ingheat to liquids, and when sufficient gas has been generated forstartin gthe engine this sourceof heat is dispensed with. The stopcocks in thepipe, which forms the connection between the two air-receivers A B, isopened, which permits the atmospheric air by its elastic force to passinto the receiver 13, and thence through the pipe t into the valve-box1a.. The slide-valve w is then opened, which permits a portion-of thisair to pass through the aperture 1- into the retort to mingle with thegas therein, and the mixed air and gas then passes out through theaperture 20 to the induction pipes or passages ef'. At the same time aportion of the air, without entering'thc retort, passes through thehollow slidevalve to theinduction and eduction passages, there to minglewith the compound of gas and air from the retort preparatory to beinginflamed. A small quantity of this mixture passes from the valve-boxthrough the small pipes 'y' 12 and these two jets are inflamed .1n thevessels .2 z to heat the latina on s a a"; and it by the inflammation ofthese jets it is found that the mixture does not contain a sufficientproportion of inflammable gas, the valve a, which governs theair-passage in the slide-valve, and which is situated between theapertures 11 w, is partly closed, which forces a greater quantity of theair to.

pass through the retort and to take up the v eduction valves and one ofthe small valves 1), so that as the gas passes through thisinduction-passage to one end of the cylinder it passes over theuncovered platina cup, which, having been heated by the small jet,inflames the mixture, the expansion of which forces the piston to theopposite end of the cylinder,

when these valves are closed and the others opened by the operationofthe cam-shaft to produce the reversed action of the piston, whichdischarges through the eduction-pas sage the-products of the previousexplosion. Inthis way the engine continues to act, the

heat generated by each explosion being suifi-- cient to keep thesurrounding water at the requisite temperature-for generating the gasinthe retort. The eduction-passages communicate with the lower part ofthe cylinder, and the valves when open permit not only the products ofthe previous explosion to escape out into the atmosphere, but at thesame time any water which may have accumulated from the lubrication ofthe piston.

It will be obvious that the throttle-valve,-

tween the induction-passagesand the heated platina are opened, forotherwisethc mixture in the other parts of the apparatus would also beexploded; butone of the eduction-valvesis kept open during thegreaterpart of the stroke of the piston.

From the foregoing it will be evident that,

instead of generating the inflammable gas from spirits of turpentine orother liquid in the retort, it may be generated from any other materialin a separate apparatus and carried by a pipe to the retort, which inthat case will answer the purpose of a conducting-pipe, and under thesecircumstances the water surrounding the cylinder and the retort may be.

dispensed with, and the'cylinder keptcool by the injection of water;butunder all circumstances it will be found advisable to surround thecylinder, valves, and induction-passages with water.

Instead of using the platina in the cup form for infiamin'g the mixture,it may be used in any other form, as the object is to use the heatedsurface of platina to inflame the mixture, instead of jets of. flame, asa means of safety.

The valves may beoperated by any desired mechanical arrangement whichwill produce the intended and requisite movements, as I make no claim tothe arrangement pointed out above.

I contemplate using this engine for the purpose of compressing-air tooperate by its expans-ion another engine. This iseffected by adouble-acting air-pump A, operated by a connect-ingerod B and crank C onthe crankshaft f of the gas-engine. The air is forced from the pumpthrough a pipe D into the receiver A, which is connected with thecylinder of the engine to be operated by the expansive force of the airby means of the pipeE'.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. Surrounding the cylinder and inductionpassages of an engine operatedby the explosion of gaseswith water for the purpose of keeping it at therequisite temperature, as described v 2. Cooling and lubricating theinside of the cylinder and piston of an engine operated by the explosionof. gases by injecting water within the cylinder, whether this beeflected. in-the manner as hereinfldescribed or in any" 4. The method ofinflaming the explosive mixture in the cylinder or in theinductionpassages by means of heated pla'tina or other metal having likeproperties, and provided with a valve or valves by which the heatedsurface can be separated from the explosive mixture, substantially asdescribed.

5. The combination of a receiver of con densed air filled by an:uxiliary force, with the receiver, into, which air is forced during theaction ofthe engine, as described, for the purpose of starting theengine, as described.

' STUART PERRY.

Witnesses:

HENRY CARTER, JAMES S.,BUTLER

